Give me a Catholic state

A part of the defining characteristic of protestantism is the right of lay people to read the Bible for their own enlightenment.

While this may seem a natural and beneficial step in the evolution of Christianity, it sticks the protestants in a certain pickle now. The obsession with the text is that pickle. In a more sophisticated age, it seems to me Catholicismif not the Catholic churchis at an advantage.

Catholics know how to "get on."
Catholics don't get pinched up about petty sins and perfection to the letter of the law. They're not trying to be Jesus  they just believe he was the Son of God. (Some don't worry about that too much either.)

In criticismto be fairCatholics do poorly with matters of sex education and reproductive rights.

But the Catholics will probably adapt.

Protestants are meticulous about the literal intruction of the Bible. For protestants, "that is wrong" and "Jesus wouldn't do that." Protestants live always on the verge of a "slippery slope," where a little bit of lying, for one example, threatens descent into bigger liesand that's wrong. God said it. That settles it.

It's a recipe for disaster, and disaster is the result.

Catholics understand the world, and they don't get easily conflicted about compromising situations.